Chocks away …

And it’s a thought isn’t it ? To consider what their journey through the past few weeks has been like.

Outward-bound voyages are usually interesting, think summer holiday flights – the expectation of bluer skies and the sun to warm us on our arrival in our final destination …

Agh me, there’s a journey I long look forward to throughout the PACE year!

But outward journeys can often bring their own emotional dilemma.

The comfort of knowing you leave home behind ; the useful knowledge of where things are and where they should be – if you were suddenly called upon to need them.

Outward journeys leave us all thinking…I wonder if everything is okay back there?

Even friendships come under a bit of strain , as you leave the norm for a week or two , and hope nothing will change when you return- that you won’t be squeezed out ” the secure equation ” .

But the best hoidays are the ones that make us stronger and healthier , not just on the outside , but inside where it always matter more .

Outward journeys take us to new horizons , where we are forced to draw upon our resilience and natural instinct for survival – they bring pressures that makes us address fundamental insecurities that we hide in our safe place “comfort zones” and force us to take different directions to get our sense of “self bearing” back.

We get lost before we can find ourselves again.

I love arriving on the Tarmac and feeling the heat of new expectation on my skin as I disembark from the plane .

Another Country , another place , another life …even for two weeks a year

Another life that gives me back me and my self and the things I really love doing.

Like the kind of PACE life some are about to begin leading again in the SPACE.

The journey you individually have made over the past few weeks speaks volumes about the kind of PACE journey you will make from here on in :

If you have doubted and pushed through doubts – then know that you are resilient enough to face any challenge that follows here

If you have researched new information and worked in applying it to your understanding of your voice and movement pieces , then know you will embrace culture naturally and will soon become more stylish and rounded in your general performance delivery

If you have missed being in a show project more than anything else but have made a good show of what you were given instead , then know that passion has not gone from you , it has merely moved to warm you against the chill of “thinking of leaving?”

As each one of you brings ability , so each one of you – a flaw , a flaw that needs careful handling.

None of us are ever perfect and although we might think we are , we need to understand that “fixing the flaw” is the thing to work for here, not just “enabling” the already able.

I’ve no doubt – monologues and movement pieces will be in varying degrees marvelous creations

I’ve no doubt some of you will beautifully dress ” for the part of SPACE”

I’ve no doubt I will think ” yes!” they sound “genuine” in their passion for this ideal

But…only seeing ” the underlying flaws” in you will make me think, “there is something good to work with here”.

Confusing statement to make I know , and one which probably needs an explanation- so yiu don’t think its all about being ” bad” on Sunday .

Because it isn’t …being bad …in that way ….

I want the SPACE to be special.

I want it to be a place where there is absolute trust amongst it’s members , a true council of like creative minds who keep each other safe from jealousy and inhibition

Who work as a creative collective to raise the word DRAMA from the ‘ordinary’ to the extra-ordinary – NATURALLY

I don’t want to have to always hound you to read posts like these on the Blog , or to wish you’d comment even just a few words of your time

I don’t want to force you to watch better films that make you think harder about things and more inspired Television to show you better acting in performance

I want you to tell me about your adventures in new cultural experiences , to be bursting to share the fun you have trying new things

I want you to share my enormous passion for drama, in the amazing Art we will produce togehter, when we share the Same vision for a show , or an event , or even a workshop .

I don’t want to carry “half in it ” members because I feel sort of bad for placing them elsewhere, I don’t want to have to start this in the wrong way , with people that don’t want this , or who want it on their terms , up to their limits of what is acceptable for them to do .

I don’t want to have to make excuses in my head of why I have to include , when they exclude themselves because they don’t care about it , like the rest do.

I don’t want to make the same mistake I made last time in “Theatre School” and allow it to become a socially acceptable “status” in PACE to attain – this isn’t Facebook or Instagram – I don’t need to court others “like popularity” or seek anyones picture worthy approval , but my own.

As long as I feel good about the SPACE , I know its’ few members will

As long as I see the sky and feel the sun every time I walk in Spires 1 – nothing else matters for them whilst there.

It will be down to my gut instinct in the end – something in the way you move and speak and write – an an individual , in a sea of people needing and wanting to be like others.

Something that will come at me ” out of the Blue ” in quite another way .

So word of caution – don’t just think this sunday is about “presenting” everything in a Mhairi Gilbert style – all spit and polish and acquired arty substance

You don’t know me yet , you don’t know what I “Arty” LIKE in my actors .

You don’t know what I’m thinking when I watch you act and you don’t understand my PACE ethos yet either.

So don’t think you can “ape” a style you see In others currently to pass this test ; my acting style comes through harder work and understanding – something you have all yet to face – because we haven’t worked , really worked… through things together yet on quote a different PACE level.

Be your self on Sunday ….”warts and all” …truthful and open to possibility at every turn – that’s what I really need to believe you are capable of here in my SPACE . Can you be that real ? Can you be that real in PACE?

And if yes …

Then trust in your own POTENTIAL for change , trust that what brought you to this sunday was more than just being insecurely with the required “pool of others” , trust that this might actually be ” realy good for you as a person ” – and do you know what , you will be so much closer to The SPACE than you even imagine.

Trust me , I’ve been doing this a long long time and it all boils down to TRUST and the TRUTH in the performance end.

Even big brash overbearing Abby ( Dance Moms ) Lee knows that. There’s no spot for the half hearted here either. Our pyramids top is SPACE , but it is less a pyramid and more an ever expanding circle .

We are who we are – through circumstance, environment and heredity

Circumstance has placed you in this project ( something that made your name appear on the list )

Environment is what you personally are as a young STS performer in PACE just now – your modus operandi ( the typical way you work on stage and off )

Heredity is your “outside” existence – the cause and effect of your other non PACE life – and where most difficulty comes – the side we don’t see , but that is carried in with you, in emotional baggage of all shapes and insecure sizes.

A heady mix that dramatically will make “you and your Odyssey audition ” collide to create a stellar “Big Bang” or sadly fade into a bit of a self made “Spires black hole”.

Tough talk …but needs must to G your force Into Jedi action .

I love that qoute that does the PINTEREST round

Maybe in show terms it has to go show dark
To let the real PACE stars shine…

And I know you have been left in the dark a little this term in PACE , but guess what it’s time to come out and “twinkle twinkle” …

I need to know you are there now , ready for your starry action .

Good luck for Sunday , I hope your ” drama landing” is clear , calm and fortuitous and you all , as one , step out and breath in a fresher PACE air – theatrical air , to fill your self-expectations, for every future ENDEAVOUR

I solemnly raise my arm, in a dolefully guilty manner, I miss a show project. I miss the working for an end goal, I miss seeing everything we worked on come together in a wonderfully theatrical fashion, that pleases the many eager spectators of our cultural phenomenon.
I also feel disconnected, especially coming out of a long and demanding panto run, plunged into the strangely, steady pace of the SPACE. It has thrown me immensely, but in an comfortable, cosy way.
What I really enjoying from this process is the personalisation. In a show project, the priority is the show but in the SPACE, my priority is me. I can explore, satellite and planet at my own free rhythm, with as many beats and bars as I like.
When thinking of Sunday, the nervous, almost tangible butterfly's stretch their wings in my stomach, looping around all my fears and worries. But I have my own net and you will have yours but my net has been upgraded. My net has been laced with a new kind of netting, this process.
"What's different?", outsiders ask, wanted to know the inner workings of this extrinsic process named Odyssey, genially intrigued on how this diverges from any other project.
Well, any other project can be seen as another notch on your belt, a been their, done that, got the t-shirt kind of feel. I chance to say "yeah, did that, now what's next". These past months on the other hand has made us come out of our body's and look ourselves up and down, to see who we really are so we can make steps to be the person we want to be.
What is great about Odyssey is there is no PACE hierarchy, unlike in Panto when all you really care about is how close you can get to the top. We are all on the same boat, heading in a direction that will ultimately bring us good. Everyone paddling as hard as the next, ready to concur what ever the unpredictable sea of PACE has to offer.
But most importantly, I believe I have changed, culturally and personally. I have stretched myself to watch different genres of TV and discovered new idols (Kevin Spacey - House of Cards, a good watch). I have strangely grown an interest in politics and wold affairs. I have discovered how to express myself with words and I know that if it wasn't for Odyssey, I wouldn't of been writing this now.
I can't wait for Sunday
Adam

Can I just start by thanking Erin and Angus, even after being so amazing in Connections (especially as a duo together you's bounced off of each other amazingly) and coming off of the high of an amazing show and being super busy they still have taken the time to wish us the best of luck, so thank yous both!
But I'd just like to say how much I can relate to this post, and that this time in the 'darkness' for us was like the turbulence...you know when it makes your belly ache and you wish you never even got on the plane but also you do like the ups and downs at points and laugh when you feel your belly move what feels up to your throat but you know it doesn't last long...it will be over shortly and its all part of the ride and you know that when that plane lands that fresh new place is waiting for you, filled with all different sights, cultures and people. That for me is my SPACE experience, so I'm not going to lie especially if I want to continue on in the SPACE as being honest is important, I really felt in the dark and felt like we were the forgotten ones, I had the butterflies in my stomach and nerves all through my body, but I saw this quote on Pinterest, I can't post it here but I'll post it on the SPACE PAGE...And It said 'Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure, and loss only act as motivation' and I realized how petty I was being ''Oh Mhairi isn't with us she doesn't care as much'' but I was so wrong, this is an amazing opportunity, it gives mhairi the chance to step back and let us thrive on creativity, she can really see space potential if she see's that we have done something so artistic and creative without having to run back to her to seek her approval, this is actually my chance to WOW people, its the fresh new face of spires that we've all been looking for, nothing that has been seen before, so when mhairi does see it, its like a blank canvas slowly starting to be formed into one beautiful picture.
I no longer want to be tricksy, I no longer want to be monotone, I no longer want to be the best of my ability...I want to push that.
I really learned to stop being so opinionated within a group this year also, as to be perfectly honest, my movement group has probably got 5 strong minded females in it who want to be the best and were expected to have problems but actually we have always agreed in an appropriate manner and I'm so happy to have such amazing people alongside me in the movement part of the audition... Before I probably didn't feel entirely safe in the room with any of them, but I can truthfully say I now have a handful of people I feel safe with and that makes me feel safer all together in the space, as we are all there for the same reason!
Good luck with Sunday everyone, everyone was made for this, its just what you do with it;
''All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theatre live. That's why it persists.''
- Stephen Sondheim
Jodie x

This post prepared my mind for Sunday, honestly such true words. I don't want to put on an act. I don't want to "show" everyone what I've been up to that past few weeks. I want to prove to everyone what I can do, what I'm capable of - or even what I can be for that matter. 2015 has surely began a lot more strenuous than anticipated, which is so amazing. I have began to open my eyes... But I've only began to open my eyes and I need this to expand them so much more!
On Sunday, I'm going to give to the best of my ability... I've been given an amazing Monologue which I enjoy exceedingly. The group movement piece is based on a strong and meaningful topic in which a certain style was directed to use, a beautiful style. I've been placed into an insightful group where we listen equally to one another. And a written submission to be typed which I enjoy doing so much. All of these opportunities to prove what I'm capable of... Roll on Sunday.
Mia. X

Now feeling prepared and ready for Sunday. Looking back on the last couple of months I was feeling 'out of the loop' but I understand that it is now our time to perform. I can genuinely say that I have learned so many new things throughout this process and although it's been hard work in excited to show what I'm capable of!
Emily X

Oh me oh life, to be filled with strife, makes the plants nectar sweeter
This post is an interesting one, and while I'll be unable to be there on Sunday, I'm sure I'll here stories about it from those who go and participate. I don't think I've quite understood everything but I can see that this project has allowed many people to grow in more ways than one. It's allowed them to discover the baggage they carry and allowed them to learn how to deal with it, using their own ingenuity. I hope that everyone who goes gets more than what they expected from this experience.

Oh me oh life, to be filled with strife, makes the plants nectar sweeter
while I'll be unable to be there on Sunday, I'm sure I'll hear stories about it from those who go and participate. I don't think I've quite understood everything but I can see that this project has allowed many people to grow in more ways than one. It's allowed them to discover the baggage they carry and allowed them to learn how to deal with it, using their own ingenuity. I hope that everyone who goes gets more than what they expected from this experience.

As I read this blog I thought "has mhairi written an aimed blog at me!?!" These words hit me hard and realised that the only thing that is going to get me into the space is me! Throughout this process I cannot deny that I was scared whether mhairi would like what I was doing, especially this week leading up to Odyssey day. However this blog has given me the reminder that as long as I stand up there and be the true me then that is all I can do! Earth hour tonight when the world goes dark- what better time than to become Nazreen (my monologue character) and mentally prepare myself for tomorrow. Thank you everyone for wishing us luck tomorrow and best of luck to everyone tomorrow!

A huge congratulations to everybody who took part on Sunday. You all did brilliantly and I hope that I can work with you all again sometime.
Don't give up, don't give in. That dream part you have always wanted will come eventually whether we get into the Space or not. If we get a "No" then we just need to pick ourselves up and keep going. This is what I have learned in the last months, just keep fighting we will all get there eventually.